Carolyn “Chick” Dowd, founded Island Spirit Kayak in her hometown on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. She began with a training internship, leading multi-day excursions on the island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia during summer breaks from Boston University. Her dream of being Julie from the Love Boat combined with a passion for paddling and introducing others to the island from the water, kept her wondering how she could make this her REAL job.

After the first season she decided to work for other kayak companies during the winter ‘off seasons’ to gain ideas for Island Spirit Kayak. She decided to hook up with Paddle Asia, a sea kayak company leading multi-day excursions in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, The following winter she completed the ACA and BCU certification courses to become a full instructor trainer and was hired to train and certify guides in the San Francisco/Point Reyes area and competed as a member of the San Francisco Kayak Polo team in national events.

We are now successful at leading families and youth groups on high-spirited and game filled tours of the island ’s pristine ponds and lagoons. We offer Kids Kamp, focusing on kayak ultimate Frisbee, chicken fights, and games as our method of teaching. Kayak surfing, kayak fishing, moonlight paddles, overnight excursions to Cuttyhunk, and sunrise trips around the Aquinnah cliffs are some of the adventures which are most popular. The most exciting addition to our trips is a kayak GPS scavenger hunt, where large groups are broken up and given clues, trivia, a GPS system, and a map to complete the various tasks. Our fleet has now grown to over 45 kayaks, two canoes, two (new) trailers, and a fantastic staff.

The Island Spirit Kayak Team members are all part-time and come from various walks of life, bringing brilliant and diverse talents to the company. They are a high-spirited staff of dedicated kayakers and are all ACA certified, annually trained for CPR, First Aid, and Ocean Rescue. We receive many compliments about the professionalism and thoughtfulness of our staff.

Island Spirit Kayak is currently exploring expansion on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. The US navy previously owned the island and only recently unoccupied the area, leaving pristine undeveloped natural habitats that have been destroyed on neighboring over populated islands. We hope to encourage visitors to experience Vieques through eco-tourism, observing its natural beauty in an unobtrusive way as it should be seen, because, “It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.”